Iseul Park spent warm childhood afternoons outside enjoying the sweet aroma of flowers. Sitting in a field during her brother’s soccer practice, Park discovered the beauty of blossoms. She distinctly remembers picking the flowers and lifting them to her nose. Inhaling floral scents brings Park back to the innocence and peacefulness of childhood.
“You don’t have a super deep understanding of everything, and I think life is left up to your own interpretation,” Park said. “You can figure things out by yourself without the negative things you’ve already experienced.”
For Park, the natural simplicity of childhood is rivaled only by flowers. Her favorite flower is the lily of the valley: A small, white, bell-shaped petal dripping down from broad green leaves and thin, fleshy stems. Park is drawn to the diversity of flowers. Variations in flowers remind Park of nature’s originality and beauty.

“I think that everyone can appreciate flowers, which also makes them beautiful because it’s something that everyone can enjoy, that brings people together,” Park said.

While Park finds beauty in individuality, Meredith Bell finds beauty in the individuals with whom she spends her time. Bell’s favorite fragrances are influenced by her family and friends. Lavender and vanilla are comforting and remind her of people close to her heart. 

“A lot of my friends wear a vanilla scent,” Bell said. “And I really love my friends, so that reminds me of them, and they’re all pretty beautiful.”

Bell’s older sister, Megan, smells like lavender beauty products. This flowering plant — a member of the mint family — has ancient ties with beauty. Derived from Latin, the word lavender means “to wash.” The blue color of the petals invokes bathwater and the evolution of cleanliness as a symbol of beauty. 

As opposed to the scents that cling to her loved ones, Samantha Magee finds beauty in the lingering smells of meals that her family has made at home. Her favorite of these meals is chicken divan: This warm, cheesy dish is created using Magee’s great, great grandmother’s recipe.

“The smell of that food is so nostalgic to me, and it just reminds me of happiness and beauty,” Magee said. 

Entering her home with swirling broccoli-cheddar aromas in the air puts Magee at peace. 

As sensory as the scent of chicken divan is for Magee, it is equally as psychological: it transports her back in time to happy memories of cooking with her family.

“I think food can bring a lot of comfort, and I think there’s beauty in that,” Magee said. 

Similarly to Magee, Ellie Robbins finds beauty in the smells that fill her home.

For Robbins, this smell comes from pumpkin candles. Her mother lights pumpkin candles throughout the house during the fall season. Robbins walks in the door after a long day at school and is struck by the seasonal delight of pumpkin spice, the sense that she is home.

“It’s the smell of home and safety,” Robbins said. “Being home where you feel like you belong and are comfortable to be yourself is a beautiful thing.”

As autumn passes, Robbins also enjoys the smell of her grandfather’s chicken. Adorned with lettuce and shredded cheese, the balsamic-glazed chicken is used for tacos. Her grandfather lives in Connecticut, and Robbins cherishes their time together.

“Every time I smell it, I just think of somebody that loves me,” Robbins said. “He makes it every time he comes out to Ann Arbor, just for me, which makes me feel really special.”

While Robbins and Magee find beauty in the smells of their homes, math teacher Jesse Richmond has another place in mind. 

“I think the smell of when you enter a flower shop is beautiful,” Richmond said. “It’s not one flower in particular, but it’s kind of all of the things combined. They just smell really refreshing and light and nice.”

The first time he entered a flower shop was in high school, right before a school dance. As the door swung open, Richmond was pleasantly surprised by the smell that met his nose. While he discovered the flowers that contribute their own, unique scents to the air, Richmond discovered his favorite: a red tulip.

Each time Richmond walks into a flower shop, he is transported back to his hometown and the floral scents that first tickled his nose.

“It is something that I notice every time I walk into a different flower shop,” Richmond said. “It’s always a nice thing.”

From places to homes to specific items, individual experiences have shaped how Park, Bell, Magee, Robbins and Richmond define the scent of beauty. 

The olfactory bulb is the part of the brain that processes scent. Directly connected to the amygdala and hippocampus—regions heavily involved in emotion and memory—scents can trigger certain feelings and memories in people. Research by neuroscientist Dr. Rachel Herz and psychologist Dr. Jonathan Schooler even suggests that odor may be the strongest memory recall cue in the brain. 

Whether it is flowers, vanilla, chicken, broccoli, pumpkin or something uniquely personal, the smells that define beauty are something that each individual can choose for themselves